Borough honours its sporting stars on Thursday night

The 16th annual Ballymena Sports Awards ceremony will be held this Thursday night, January 30.

The glittering event - held in the impressive surroundings of the Braid Town Hall complex - will once again be compered by Ballymena-born BBC sports presenter Jackie Fullerton.

A selection panel met before Christmas to choose the winners in the various categories, delving through a bumper entry of nominations, from a vast array of codes and disciplines.

Mayor of Ballymena, Councillor Audrey Wales, will outline the important part played by sport in the wellbeing of the borough and will also thank the generous sponsors involved in making the event possible.

“The number of entries and the number of different sports nominated illustrate how highly the awards are thought of and the credibility which they enjoy among the local sporting community,” said Council Sports Development Officer Katrina McCaughan.

Prizes will be distributed in a number of categories, ranging from Team of the Year to Junior and Adult Sportspersons to Services to Sport.

A new category this year is the Participation Award which will recognise the work of a community club, school, group or organisation who have demonstrate that they have increased active participation in sport or physical activity during the last year.

We’ll have live Twitter updates from the event (@Stephen_Bmena) as well as full coverage of the event in next week’s Ballymena Times.